A DESERT ROSE

A/N: Yes I have started to write the fourth instalment of the "A Thorned Rose" series. Hope you like it...Just you people wait until the ending...you will want to KILL me for it. Trust me. ENJOY!

CHAPTER 1:

Three years later…

"Listen, Fiona it will be fine. James and I will only be gone no more than two months." Jen said as she started packing her things. As she reached over to pack her enormous sniper rifle, she looked up. Fiona stared back with her arms folded.

"Only two months? Cooper and I have no idea how to take care of a child, especially one that's only two and a half years old!"

"She's three. And…Fiona, I can't let being a mother stop me from for working forever. I took three whole years off, and I need to get back to what I love doing. Any mother who loved her job as much I as I do would understand. It just so happens that my job could be on the top-ten list for most dangerous but…"

"Jen…" Fiona sighed. "Where are you going anyway?"

"Qatar." Jen replied, packing her rifle in its case.

"Qatar? The Middle East, really?"

"Yes, the oil giants of the world are again fighting it out and they are all in need of private contracts. James and I figure by the time we get home, we'd have a good fifty million or so in our pockets." Jen zipped the zipper of her bag shut, pulling it off of her dresser. Fiona thought it out and figured that Jen was right; they would come back with a lot of money. That still didn't make Fiona feel any better about the matter though. Jen started moving down the stairs. Fiona followed her. They bumped into James who was holding his daughter.

"James, I really don't think you two should go I mean…" Fiona stammered.

"It's all right. You'll be fine." He said as he handed Marissa off to Fiona's outstretched arms. Fiona shifted her weight so she was leaning back on the stair railing.

"It's not me I'm worried about. It's the two of you."

"Fiona…we'll be fine." Jen said, leaning her bags against the wall beside the front door.

"I just…what happens if you both don't come home?" Fiona asked in a serious tone. Jen's smile faded. She knew her friend was pointing out the worst case scenario but it unquestionably had to be talked about.

"If we both don't come home…You and Cooper will take care of Marissa." Jen replied, leaning forward to kiss her daughter on the forehead. Marissa smiled giddily, reaching for her mother as Jen pulled away. Fiona still wasn't sure, but she knew there was no stopping Jen and James now that they had their minds made up.

Cooper walked into the room and he sensed the sombre mood all round. He figured they had just brought up what would happen if Jen and James died while in the Middle East. Fiona looked at him from where she was holding Marissa. He smiled at her and she half-smiled back. James had meanwhile dragged out his own duffle bags and threw them in the trunk of Cooper's Aston Martin DB9.

"Fiona…it'll be fine." Cooper said, pulling out his car keys from his jeans' pocket. "I'll be back in a bit, all right?" Fiona grinned back. Jen and James came back inside to say their final goodbyes. Fiona handed Marissa back to James.

"Mummy and Daddy are going away for a while." Jen cooed to Marissa. "You be good for Auntie Fiona now all right?"

"Yeah…" Marissa replied. Jen smiled, giving her a kiss. James gave Marissa a hug before James gave her back to Fiona.

"All right…" James said drearily. "Let's go."